Saturday, June 11, 2016

Corruption prevents India becoming "Sone ki Chidia" again

Rummaging through my collection of newspaper clippings I came across one
that was of a fairly recent origin. Its sub-head said corruption remains major
barrier to growth in India. This earth-shattering finding was made by as
unlikely an organization as the World Economic Forum (WEF), a Swiss non-profit
based near Geneva. Its mission is supposed to be "...
improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and
other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas".

What the Forum
has unearthed has always been known to most of us although, perhaps, we could
never pin point the extent of corruption in the country. The Forum has
indicated that in more or less specific terms in its report titled “Building
Foundation for Transparency” under its Partnership Against Corruption
Initiative. Choosing to look into the sectors of real estate and infrastructure
its investigators were told by the Indian protagonists that under the
prevailing ‘system’ the bribes paid could be considerable and could account for
as much as 50% of the project cost or even more. The prevailing system meant
ambiguous norms for change of land use, dodgy land records and the need for
multiple clearances and these reasons compel the project developers to pay
speed money, presumably, to several individuals and/or outfits. Besides, one
could safely presume, rules regarding change in land use are deliberately kept
ambiguous to dole out favours by those in authority to big and influential
project developers in exchange of big money. These findings, the Forum felt,
have “strong implications for the competitiveness of the Indian markets”.

The Forum has
used the hammer rather lightly and probably preferred to look away from the
reality. That almost all the state governments in India are driven by the real
estate and construction lobbies is an established fact. Even the prestigious
magazine The Economist had once occasion to remark that state governments in
India are more likely to be sold to these lobbies either because of the demands
of the political parties in power or the politicians’ own venality. Real estate
developers and infrastructure contractors are the ones who are really fat cats and
buy off the ministers with their financial muscle. State governments are
literally led by their nose and the proof prevails in big bold relief in almost
all the cities. Forgetting all the environmental or civic norms, buildings or
complexes come up with or without the necessary approvals. What if a project is
not approved; money can buy the approval at a later date. Buildings, roads,
drainage, dams and almost everything infrastructural are all of poor quality as
these thickly line the pockets of officials, bureaucrats and politicians – the
thickness of the lining being determined by the station of the recipient in the
government. This has been the standard practice since the British days but has
assumed huge proportions post-independence as those at the helm have been
participating in the game with increasingly greater enthusiasm. The padding of
50% or more has perhaps been forced on the project executor because of the
prevailing utter lack of ethical behaviour all over.

Findings of WEF
apart, the country’s own Minister of Defence recently had occasion to state in
an interview that the VVIP choppers that were procured from AugustaWestland
during UPA rule at Rs.300 crores apiece should not have cost more than Rs.150
or 160 crores each. He said kickbacks paid to various people doubled the price
of the choppers. All those reported to be mired in the scandal include the
security establishment at the highest levels, bureaucrats, a number of Air
Force officials including its Air Chief Marshal and a number of politicians
including, reportedly, the then ruling party chief. An elaborate charade was
played out to bring the AugustaWestland helicopters within reckoning. These
were meant for the VVIPs to be flown to high altitude military posts. Even the
parameters for the purpose earlier determined for selection were revised to
bring in the AugustaWestland helicopters in the field for consideration. And even
the test flight that was taken was reported to have been of a different
helicopter in a different country- not on the heights of India.

Ever since
independence there have been numerous scandals involving defence deals. The
corrupt deal of buying jeeps in 1948, though trifling in comparison to the mind-boggling
ones of current times, short-changed the Indian Army by as many as 45 jeeps as
only 155 were received against 200 for which payment had been made. Only Rs. 18
lakh were eaten up. While Krishna Menon, the main culprit, was made a minister,
the prime mister brushed the matter under the carpet. Since then, however,
numerous magnum-sized defence deals were negotiated and billions of rupees were
eaten up by unscrupulous politicians, bureaucrats, officials and middlemen
which could have bought thousands of jeeps, howitzers fighter planes and VVIP
choppers.

Why defense,
every sphere in governance is infested with corruption. From allocation of coal
mines to allocation of telecom spectrum, from holding the Commonwealth Games to
even granting approval for opening of medical colleges, every sector of the
government has somehow failed to remain untouched by corruption. At the central
level the corrupt practices are fewer but the states are dens of corruption. So
many chief ministers and other ministers have been caught with their hands in
the till. In Bihar a former chief minister literally looted the state treasury
as he allowed fraudulent payments from it for cattle-feed for personal gains.
There are rackets galore and politicians and officials of the states make
merry.

The moral and ethical
standards have plummeted so low that every government servant, high or low, wants
to be a crorepati (billionaire). There have been cases where the employees of the
lowest ranks have been found to have stashed away a billion or more. An
aspiring society apparently is trying to satisfy its aspirations mostly by
immoral and corrupt means and making no bones about it. If the entire
governmental structure is predominantly corrupt can the country ever prosper?
Narendra Modi, the present Prime Minister, may try his best but the progress,
if at all, will be at snail’s pace – especially because of the states that will
drag him down.

Once upon a time
India was known as “Sone ki chidia”,
a “golden sparrow”, because of its immense riches. Ancient India seemed to have
had prosperous trade with the countries in West and South-East Asia. There was intense
interaction with the peoples of its trading partners. Foreigners are reported
to have wondered at the gold on temples and on bodies of women. The riches
attracted invaders to come to pillage and plunder. Even Lord Clive was astounded
to see the riches of Murshidabad in Bengal which was at that time richer than
even London. Mark Twain too was stunned by the “land of dreams and romance,
fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, splendour and rags, of palaces and hovels...”that
was India

Whether Muslims or British, they all came and
looted the country and took away its wealth. Now that the foreigners are gone,
it is our “netas”(politicians) who
are doing the same. Trillions of rupees have been siphoned off by them since
independence in collaboration with their partners in crime. But for them and
their nefarious gangs, the country could have quite possibly regained by now
the sobriquet of “Sone ki Chidia”.

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About Me

There would seem to be no point in talking about the position I used to hold. What is more relevant today is that I am retired from the service of government of India where I worked for thirty four years in senior positions ending just below the top of my department. I retired more than twenty years ago. To be fruitfully engaged I took to blogging and writing articles, initially, on local issues but now for years I have been writing on topical and environmental matters. The writings in the local supplement of a national daily gave me some kind of a positive identity in the town which culminated in my being nominated to be a founder member of Bhopal Citizens' Forum, a powerful pressure group. I am , I think, fruitfully engaged and I have no complaints against life.